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WWE Raw Review – 12.2.19

Raw opens with AOP entering the building in a van. Charlie Carusso tries to get an answer out of them, but they only speak in their native language.

After the Raw video opener, Seth Rollins entered the arena to a chorus of boos. Rollins says he may have crossed the line with his comments last week, but it was coming from a good place. Eventually, he apologized to the fans, the locker room, and, more specifically, Kevin Owens.

KO answered the call and questioned Seth about the AOP. Rollins said he has nothing to do with the AOP attacking him last week, but was interrupted by the AOP. They were speaking in their native language at first, but in the end, they challenged KO & Rollins to a match.

KO knows this can only end badly for him, so he declines the match. Owens invites the AOP to come down and fight, but they just smirk and walk away. Owens, who is all ready for a fight, issues an open challenge, and right before the break, we see Bobby Lashley and Lana walking backstage.

Seeing Owens in this super babyface role is excellent. He is phenomenal on the mic and says precisely what the crowd is thinking. Going forward, he needs to be pushed as Raw’s top babyface.

What took place on the rest of the show? Check out the rest of my review below:

Kevin Owens vs. Bobby Lashley:

Back from break, KO is still standing in the ring when Lana’s music hit. Right as Lana began talking, Owens interrupted her and begged her to just stop talking. Lana then told us she had to file another restraining order on Rusev.

KO, clearly over this storyline, tells Lana he has never met someone who talks so much but says absolutely nothing. Then KO said that she may be beautiful on the outside, but on the inside, she is absolutely repulsive.

This would lead to Bobby Lashley coming out, followed by two security guards. Lashley took over the early part of the match with a spine buster that sent KO to the outside. Then just before the break, Owens knocked Lashley to the floor and then hit a splash from the apron.

Back from the break, Owens hit a cannonball for a near fall, and then KO went to the top rope but missed on a moonsault. Lashley regained control with a clothesline. Owens was able to stop the attack from Lashley with a superkick, but Lashley picked up a near fall off a neck breaker.

Lashley looked for the full nelson submission, but Owens would counter it into a pop-up powerbomb. KO couldn’t get the cover, and then the AOP make their way to the ring, causing a disqualification. The AOP took the beat down to the outside, and eventually dragged Owens up the ramp.

Back from break, Lashley and Lana were in the ring being interviewed. But Rusev ran through the crowd and attacked Lashley from behind. Lashley and Lana were both handcuffed after attacking the detective.

Rusev is once again massively over with the WWE Universe. They need to finally pull the trigger on him and push him like they should have two years ago.

The O.C. vs. Carrillo, Ricochet, Mysterio:

This match was set up earlier in the night after the O.C. came out to beat down Randy Orton. This match started out with Humberto on the attack early on, but the O.C. would team up to cut off Carrillo’s momentum and send him to the outside.

Once back in the ring, Gallows took his turn to beat down Humberto for a bit before he was able to make a tag to get Mysterio into the match. Unlike Carrillo, Mysterio was able to fend out the multi-man attack of the O.C. for a bit. But Mysterio got caught by Anderson while attempting a 619 and was flung to the outside.

The O.C. was still in control after the commercial break. Gallows picked up a near fall after dropping Mysterio with a big boot. Anderson then tagged into the match, but Mysterio fought back and tagged in Ricochet, who would run wild on the O.C. for a bit.

Ricochet would then hit a standing shooting star press for a two-count. Then with the help of Anderson on the outside, Styles hit a facebuster for a near fall. Ricochet would counter with a recoil for another two-count.

This is where the match broke down as Mysterio would hit a 619 onto Anderson, followed by Carrillo hitting a dropkick to Gallows, followed up by a dive to the outside.

After all that chaos, Styles went for a Styles Clash, but Ricochet rolled him up for a two-count. Ricochet then used the ring post to aide him with a flip to the outside to take out Anderson. But the distraction proved costly, as Styles countered Ricochet’s attempt at a hurricanrana and hit a Styles Clash from the top rope for the win.

Post-match, Randy Orton came from out of nowhere to hit an RKO on Styles as Raw went off the air.

Before the match even began, the Kabuki Warriors went after Flair, and Kairi Sane attacked her with an umbrella.

Both members of the Kabuki Warriors tagged in and out early on, taking turns beating down Flair. Even when Flair was able to dispatch of Sane over the top rope, Asuka was there to attack from behind.

Every time it appeared that Flair was starting to gain the upper hand, it was one of the Kabuki Warriors who would cut off her momentum. However, the Warriors made a mistake when Sane tried to hang up Flair in the ropes, but she ducked, and Asuka took out Sane. Charlotte then went airborne and took out both Kabuki Warriors with a crossbody.

After the break, Asuka was back in control, laying out Flair with a German Suplex. Asuka would tag her partner in, only to have Sane to eat a kick from Flair in midair. Charlotte would head to the top rope for a moonsault on both Kabuki Warriors, but they got their knees up.

Sane was on the verge of tapping to Flair when Asuka broke up the submission hold. The Queen didn’t back down from constant strikes from Asuka, going for a submission hold. She even fought out of an armbar from Asuka and transitioned it into a sit-down powerbomb.

Charlotte would not go away after falling hard from the top rope and getting a kick to the back. She then regrouped and hit a wicked spear on both Kabuki Warriors. Flair would then set up Asuka for the figure-eight, but a tag was made to Sane, who would hit her elbow drop to pick up the win.

Flair fought hard against the odds and fully got the crowd behind her in this match. I was impressed with how well this match went, and it really doesn’t make Flair look bad because it took two women to defeat her.

McIntyre teases Tozawa about his height and tells him to leave before he kicks his ass. Tozawa, of course, fights back, but this would be costly. Drew hit an Alabama Slam on the outside. McIntyre took control as he hit a MASSIVE chop to Tozawa and then literally tossed him across the ring.

Tozawa would briefly fight back and knocked Drew to his feet with a missile dropkick and even picked up a near fall. But McIntyre would level Tozawa with a Claymore kick for the win.

It’s about time Drew gets a WWE Championship opportunity, he’s been stuck in these so- so feuds for his entire time on Raw, can we finally see this man where he belongs?

McIntyre calls out Orton:

After the win, McIntyre wastes little time in calling out Randy Orton. If you remember to last week, these two had a face-off last week in the fatal four-way match.

Drew calls out Orton and says he is a thing of the past. Randy tells Drew that if he’s got an issue with him, then they can settle it tonight.

But they are interrupted by the O.C., who is in a foul mood after Orton cost AJ Styles his United States Title last week. The O.C. starts beating down Orton, but Ricochet, Humberto Carrillo, and Rey Mysterio all run out to even the odds.

Both men struggled to gain the edge early on, as they countered each other’s moves early on. Black did his signature flip off the ropes into a sit down in the middle of the ring, which rattled Nese.

Nese got back on the attack, hanging Black over the ropes while jumping to the outside. The match turned when Nese missed on a move from the top rope. Black would then hit a knee strike and then followed that up with the Black Mass (or Black Magic, according to Jerry Lawler).

Backstage Murphy says he does not regret knocking on Black’s door and says Black needs to calm down. If this is trending toward a Black vs. Murphy match on a pay-per-view, then I’m all for it. These two would put on a show given the time!

Not much action early on and these two men traded wrist locks. Andrade gained the edge when he whipped Young into the corner. Andrade then cut Young off on the top rope and then hit a massive chop.

Young would get a bit of offense in, and hit an elbow drop from the top rope for a near fall. Andrade turned the match back around when he ripped Young off the middle rope and then hit a sliding dropkick for a two-count. Young rallied with a clothesline, and then a neck breaker for a near fall. Young climbed to the top rope but was cut off, and Andrade hit the double knees, followed by a hammerlock DDT for the win.

Another impressive win for Andrade, and he once again got a pinfall win without the help of Zelina Vega.

Rowan graduated from beating down jobbers to now beating down main roster talent. Rowan snapped when the conga line tried to look into his cage. Erick would hit the claw slam twice for the win. The crowd was mostly indifferent for this match, and the storyline is struggling to gain momentum.

The Raiders make quick work of the makeshift tag team. I was hoping that this phase of the Viking Raiders would be over, but I guess they are back to beating up jobbers tag teams. For heaven sake put this duo in a real feud.

This was a solid episode of Raw. I enjoyed the Kevin Owens segment, as he voiced his opinion about the Lashley/Lana storyline that many in the WWE Universe share. Owens as well as Rusev are naturally over with the WWE Universe, and need to be pushed accordingly. The main event six-man tag team match was a great way to end the show, and the two-on-one match between Charlotte and the Kabui Warriors was an excellent match.

But I do have one question, where is Becky Lynch? This is now two weeks the Raw Women’s Champion has not been on Raw. I know some may be happy with this, but she is arguably the face of this company and yet WWE is holding her off TV. Not sure I agree with that. Also, the Erick Rowan storyline is not for me and why are the Viking Raiders still taking on jobber tag teams?

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